joji
"mama! m-mama!" stellas cries echoed throughout the small bedroom, and i immediately sat up, looking at the time:
6:47 am.
the sun had yet to rise, the room was still cast in the dark blue shadows of nighttime, i was suprised that stella slept basically through the night, considering she had a fever last night.
i quickly stood up, going to pick up stella before she woke up mia.
and i walked over to stellas crib, leaning down to scoop her up into my arms. "shhh, it's okay, dads here," i whispered, rubbing her back.
"dada" she babbled, clutching onto my sweater.
and my heart melted, she called me dada, for the very first time.
i looked over at mia, who was still fast asleep, and i smiled, her hair was covering the pillow case and she looked so cozy and cute buried in a mound of blankets.
with stella on my hip, i walked out into the hallway, closing the bedroom door behind me softly.
i head down the stairs and into the kitchen, turning the coffee maker on. i definitely would need caffeine if i was to make it through today.
i placed stella down in her highchair, going to the fridge and grabbing some berry baby food and a baby spoon.
i sat down infront of stella, collecting some food into the spoon, and raising it up towards her face, but she moved her head away and giggled.
"c'mon, petal, please," i sighed, trying to hide my smile, she was just so cute.
"okay, fine. will you eat if it gets delivered by the airplane?" i grinned, and stella perked up at the word airplane.
"here comes the airplane! brrrrrrr...." and i twisted the spoon around, making her giggle, and once i brought it closer to her mouth, she ate off the spoon.
after completing the airplane trick about 25 more times, most of the food was on stellas face and her bib, but she didn't seem to be hungry anymore.
and i stood up from the table, quickly pouring myself coffee and getting a wet washcloth to clean stellas face.
morning rays of light had started to trickle into the kitchen, casting glows onto the marble countertops and dark oak hardwood floors.
i wiped stellas face and cleaned up the highchair. i finished my coffee as she babbled to me about something, only a few words made sense, but did it matter to me? no, of course not, because being around my daughter is heart warming enough.
i placed my coffee cup in the sink, and picked up stella from her highchair, walking upstairs to her play room.
i settled into her corner of stuffed animals and she sat on my lap, picking up books and handing them to me.
and without hesitation, i started to read to her. i snuck in a few kisses on her head every few sentences, just because i couldn't believe she was real, and that she was this beautiful.
- 8:52 am -
i had read a dozen books to stella, played tea party and played dolls, but she had started to get whiny, which told me she wanted to go see mia.
i looked at my phone, it's not too early to wake mia up, right?
i placed stella on my hip and stood up, walking down the hall to her room.
i pushed open the door and noticed the room was now lit by the sun, a soft yellow glow covering every surface in the room.
i sat down on the bed, next to mia, who hadn't moved positions in hours, and placed stella down, who crawled up to mia.
